Night one of the CNN Democratic debates has come and gone, and if you missed it you didn’t miss much. Basically the entire thing can be summed up as Jake Tapper asking the progressives on stage, “So explain why Americans would vote for your policies when we here at CNN have been telling them for years that they’re not allowed to support those policies?” Then for balance they ask one of the boring centrist candidates to explain why Bernie Sanders is crazy. Repeat for two and a half hours.

Disrupting the monotony was Marianne Williamson, who once again was the most-searched candidate following the debate. She raised eyebrows by using the phrase “dark psychic forces” to describe Trump’s demagoguery, prompting many ironically ironic tweets from ironically ironic people eager to make fun of how weird and ridiculous this self-help guru woman is.

Which to me is a bit odd seeing as the people she’s being compared to are status quo politicians, who are some of the most freakishly insane creatures on this planet.

I am not a fan of Marianne Williamson, nor of anyone else in this primary race for that matter. But the candidates who push against the status quo in some way do tend to highlight various aspects of the oppression machine in ways I find interesting, and the reaction to Williamson is certainly no exception.

I mean, this same debate saw Mayor Pete Buttigieg saying that “assault weapons, things like what I carried overseas in uniform… have no business in American neighborhoods in peacetime, let alone anywhere near a school.” In other words, such weapons don’t belong in America, they belong overseas murdering foreigners for crude oil and Raytheon profit margins. This argument is becoming more and more common in America’s gun control debate, and the only reason people don’t shout and shudder in revulsion upon hearing it is because the propagandists of the political/media class have normalized military mass murder in mainstream American consciousness to such a severe extent.

This same debate also saw former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper argue that US troops should remain in Afghanistan for “humanitarian” reasons and to protect “the condition of women”, apparently in an attempt to court the key voting demographic of people who have been sealed in a soundproof time capsule since 2001. He literally said “Look at the progress that’s happened in that country.” With his literal face hole.

This same debate also saw Montana Governor Steve Bullock extolling the merits of keeping a nuclear first strike policy on the table for the United States. This man sincerely argued that it is good and right for the United States to be prepared to use nuclear weapons even when not attacked with nuclear force, and for other nuclear-armed nations to see this and know this. This is clearly an omnicidal, psychopathic position which threatens every organism on our planet, but today everyone’s talking about Marianne Williamson and energy crystals.

If people could really see what’s happening in their nation and their world with fresh eyes, they’d scream in horror. But that’s the exact status quo that all these sane, normal, serious politicians have dedicated their lives to upholding. One where people are deliberately kept poor by a plutocratic class which understands that money is power and power is relative. One where the most powerful military force in history circles the globe and wages endless wars upon disobedient populations. One where we rip apart the flesh of our planet and dump poison into our air and our water in facilitation of a new mass extinction event which will someday claim our own species if not reversed. One where we point weapons at each other that can wipe out cities, cover the earth’s surface in nuclear radiation, and fill the sky with black soot blocking out the sun for decades, and we play with escalations toward the deployment of such weapons like it’s a game.

The only reason any of this seems normal to anyone is because the propagandists have normalized it. The only reason the politicians who help support this system seem normal to anyone is because the propagandists have normalized them. Without the filter of propaganda warping our sense of reality, we’d see these depraved monsters for what they really are.

If all of humanity suddenly took sane pills today, we wouldn’t be mocking some longshot Democratic candidate for saying things in a slightly different way than we’re used to hearing them. We’d be mocking the people who’ve been propping up this ridiculous, insane way of being, and we’d be throwing them all out on their asses. And we’d be enraged that it took us this long to do so.

Seasoned career politicians are infinitely more ridiculous, crazy, risible and undignified than Marianne Williamson, because the power structures and agendas they uphold are so transparently bat shit insane. That doesn’t mean Williamson is special, it means they are freaks. And if we ever get sane, we’ll immediately see them as such.

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Wow! Sanity from the USA. MAD seems back on the table if it was ever really off while the planet floods and burns. From a little UK town where we have had 200% more rain in a few days and a dam of over 150 years has water cascading over the top and causing a breach. Bizarre times here too and now with a prime minister the people didn’t elect.

John McClain/August 1, 2019

Being progressive, as a person, is a good thing, it means choosing to educate one’s self, entering the world, intent to earn one’s way, be productive, inventive, and in general, live well, while helping those around, to also live well, knowing such acts come back on one. At the same time, progress in every endeavor, reaches a pinnacle, and like Mt. Everest, when you get to peak, if you keep going, you are going down the mountain, not up. As has been said so many times before, “looting and raping by war” has been man’s ways since stone age times, and it receded only because we figured out, we could control plants, and not have to find them, and greatly improve our efficiency. That also provided the “cushion” of food, safety, which ultimately became trade currency, leading to ever growing and expanding tribes and attendant culture. People come in every shape and size, with talents of all sorts, and some arrive with the notion, they can live off others, if they can only convince them “it’s for their own good”. We thought we’d broken that thousands of years of precedent, with our war against the King, and our newly minted “U.S. Constitution”, and while many “Americans” in the first years, fulfilled every bit of its dream, and that of our declaration, even more were working hard to reverse the difficulties it made for them, to return to their ways, they enjoyed. I’m not the man to say when the pinnacle of civilization was reached, but I will say, we definitively have surpassed the pinnacle of this mountain, and are well on the way down, and even considering running, since there is so much gravity urging us forward, even if downward. Shortly after Morse invented the telegraph, making batteries was the most critical issue of the time, because information was so important, and now so fast. Edison was about 12, and taught himself to operate, to code, and became one of the best, but also noted, “he sat in a shack, with batteries, a ‘clacker’, sounding the message, and was pushing his own sender, moments after hearing, merely repeating it, as were hundreds of others, down the line. At 13, he realized, simply putting contacts on the “clacker”, it would automatically repeat, and that was his first, very valuable, returning invention of note. He worked on it, improving it, while inventing generators, D.C. motors, and helping it move to dynamo power, replacing batteries. The moment Bell demonstrated his “telephone”, with its carbon dust microphone, and ear piece, Edison left telegraph for others, and immediately began working on expanding this clearly superior way of communications, understanding it would need very complex “connections, of temporary nature”, and invented the “switchboard”, most of us have seen in old movies, hundreds of holes to plug into, dozens of cords to select in turn. Leftish progressiveism has brought us long past the pinnacle of human existence, and pushed us into a realm anyone can dream up any notion, and proclaim it a right, and be supported. When we stop be rational, we stop being of any value in a discussion of an weight. We have always had people willing to rule, by their willingness to serve up violence until we surrender. We’ve always had people willing to take a stand, fight, and deny this, and some will return to their own, unfortunately, many were and are, no different than the first, just jealous of the power, and assuming it. We can’t possible win, if we all focus on our own singular, miniscule issue, we’ve been ably divided for millennia, by power, letting us have all of our squabbles, even to blood, and providing us squabbles, if they are in short supply, precisely to keep us from focusing on the singular issue: rulers who rule by force, threat of force and fear. We have only ever lived in relative peace, when the majority of a social group have chosen to cast out dissent, not allow any ruler, and carefully craft their covenant with each other, never to allow rule, only “principle based debate, supported by facts and evidence”, as means of finding “natural laws”, and our rights. The Greeks did it quite well for a time, but it was many times falling in, and climbing back out, as their history attests. Rome did very well for three or four centuries, building on Greek principles, and adding to them, balancing the issue of “democracy as mob rule” with representative government, but once it achieved its goal, the improvement of everyone, there was a prize to be ruled, and it would be taken, and was, beginning the end of that experiment. We, the U.S., did much the same, we just began stepping outside the law within two decades, formally, probably a couple of months, off the record. Progressive ideology has never considered what the long history of “doing exactly the same thing, getting the same results, time and again” and considered what it means to the whole of their perspective. As a Christian, I believe we each have both good and evil within us. I am sure, certain, we have the will to do good, almost everyone I’ve ever met has shown at least some small sign of this, but also, all have shown the ability to cross their “principles”, break their own codes, even knowing they will regret the result, but driven to do it for greed, envy, any possible reason. This has always, all my life, suggested our basic mind is cultivated around principled good, if allowed, and fed by people of good intent, yet the best of us have some evil we must either put down, soundly, repeatedly, or we fall over it, and must see ourselves in evil, and have some sort of feelings, and reaction to being “evil” in our action, at the least. Any person who makes all effort to always throw back and down that urge to prosper beyond work, and always use that, to drive themselves to do harder, the good they know to do, will end up being good for a family, an extended family, a tribe, community, culture, and ultimately, these people form the foundation for an egalitarian culture. Inevitably, such a one, attracts the evil, because there is much to be had, desirable, in such a society, and a People, accustomed to most being principled, are less wary than those well experienced with barbaric continued ways. To break away from this, A People must find their desire to live well, equitably, is more important than any or all our petty squabbles, we easily rectify between ourselves, or get a neutral to arbitrate for us. “Civilization” is defined as a country or nation in which the rule of government is derived out of the citizens, and not from the military. We, people all over the world, have falsely labelled so much of history as “civilized”, precisely so oligarchs can continue to rise, take power, and impose it, and pretend it’s not a return to barbarian law, might rules. We are easily manipulated, largely because we live so well, even as the police state encroaches, the taxes impose ever more, and ever more hidden, and we begin to cook, “like the proper way for a frog”, and man is it hard to make those quadricepts to spring one out of the pot, from “stiff and complacent”. At this point, the only true “progressive purpose” should be establishing the “Laws of war” that have long been well considered, made sense of, but are by no means, imposing on Nations or States, but must be, for “People” to have both peace, and the power to govern themselves. The “laws of war” are an issue of laws, by man, against Man’s natural proclivity to greed, envy, desire, the “laws of peace” are natural, to be discovered, and in them, natural rights, which either all have, or none, nothing in between being reasonable, rational, sustainable. We all must put “I” fully in tune with each other, against the one thing we completely agree on: “the end of offensive acts of people against people”. Ultimately, that is what it all boils down to. It’s a far bigger deal, issue of power, than is easily understood. It is our own nature we fight, and must win at home, each in our own heart, before we can win as a society. Semper Fidelis, John McClain Vanceboro, NC, USA

cutthecord/August 1, 2019

speak for yourself. killing and looting for money and power must be in YOUR genetic makeup, but overwhelming majority of all peoples, except YOUR people apparently, are against war, throughout history and across borders.

HelenB/August 2, 2019

The US has risen on the backs of its victims: first the native peoples who originally numbered at least 60 million and which it reduced to 800,000 by the early 20C, then on the African slaves, then on the looting of its militarily defeated, then on the economic victims of its reserve currency, and currently by regime-change wars and economic sieges called “sanctions”. The US is not alone. The 18th and 19th Century colonisers were also guilty, but at least they didn’t pretend they were bringing liberty and democracy to those they plundered. Unless and until the US and its parasite stand down and stop the continuing conquest, we will never have any peace. They show no sign of doing so.

william c wesley/August 1, 2019

Data/August 1, 2019

Hi Caitlin. Just curious if you read Pam and Russ Martens and their Wall Street on Parade blog? Normally, she takes a look at Wall St with the eye of a former insider. But today she was writing about the debate, with thoughts similar enough to yours to make me wonder if you read it. In this world where none of us are mass media, sometimes we never know if one interesting person is reading another interesting person unless we ask. 🙂 She had some interesting quotes from Williamson in my piece. I might have to added Williamson into my fictional ranked prefernence list (fictional because I live in an outdated, medieval democracy). Currently that list is Gabbord-Sanders-Warren-FU I’m voting Green. But Williamson might have to be added.

Data/August 1, 2019

Yes, every society used to fight wars and try to conquer everyone around them. Also, every society used to have slavery. The question is whether these big monkeys known as human beings have managed to learn to grow and advance socially, ethically, or morally? Have we? Or are we now just the same big monkeys with nuclear weapons about to prove that in the long run intelligence wasn’t the big evolutionary advantage it was all hyped up to be.

Robyn/August 1, 2019

There are big monkeys and little monkeys. The big monkeys have certainly learnt the lesson well, that lesson being that once you make it to the top, there is no end to the power and money and influence you can have. It’s the little monkeys who fail to learn that they are being screwed and so it doesn’t dawn on them that if they got together in common cause they could knock off the big monkeys in no time. While the big monkeys push for more of everything for themselves (including war and weapons profits), I don’t believe little monkeys would vote for war (or poverty or wage slavery etc.).

HelenB/August 2, 2019

Ishkabibble/July 31, 2019

Here’s true, not half-baked, antiwar presidential candidate Ron Paul in early 2012 sticking out his neck for true antiwar voters at a “debate”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGpXHYtkOS8 .. Compare what Ron Paul said in 2012 to what’s being said to the war-addicted voters of Terminator Nation this very day. .. The mind-blowing, horrifying REALITY! is that US voters rejected Ron Paul in 2012 in favor of warmongers like O’bomb’em. .. Now, YOU tell ME why the voters of the US rejected Ron Paul and will vote for yet another Liar and Murderer in Chief in 2020. And do NOT tell me that voters do not really know what they’re voting for and that they’re somehow being bamboozled. .. From past history, I contend that voters not only know just exactly WHO they’re voting for, they also know just exactly WHAT they’re voting for– PERPETUAL WAR– because they have determined that by so doing they are voting for “No. 1” — what is in their own best interest. And THIS is the reality of what the US has been for literally centuries and almost certainly still is. I hope I’m proven wrong in 2020.

cutthecord/July 31, 2019

the abominable CFR surveyed the dem candidates on 10 most important foreign policy issues including one with North Korea. Marianne Williamson’s answer came across most reasonable and enlightenend among the errogant war-mongering bunch. of course zionist ghouls at CNN had to trash her, but people had already caught on! ——— williamson: Nuclear weapons are a symptom of conflict, fear, insecurity, and a drive to dominate. Denuclearization will follow more naturally and easily with decreased tensions and improved relationships.

Sanctions are a form of economic warfare with a high rate of failure. Punitive, coercive policies do not always achieve the best outcomes. Sanctions harm innocent people, escalate conflicts and can put us on a path to war. They can provoke targeted populations to rally round the flag, support hardliners and inflame resentment against America. …..

Khatika/July 31, 2019

All this craziness was always there but the Internet has put it in our faces day after day. Thus our anxiety is up and our peace of mind is down. American society is decaying from the pressure of excess. I have no idea what this country will look look in another 20 years.

cutthecord/July 31, 2019

mike k/July 31, 2019

Williamson is real and dead serious about putting out the truth. Is it any wonder that most Americans cannot hear her, and instead feed on the easy satires of lazy know nothing fools like themselves? The truth no longer has a large audience, if it ever did – and actually it never did in our whole long human history. Only a tiny minority are tuned and receptive to the truth, which is mostly the exact opposite of what most folks have swallowed from their lying culture.

cutthecord/July 31, 2019

1) killing other peoples to loot their treasure is a time-honored zionist Democraptic creedo. 2) the same zionist yankees have been war criminals and occupiers all over the world, including Afganistan. 3) nuking anyone in their way is perfectly justified, as their god chose them as the rulers.

that’s why they have been hated universally, and the next time they are “persecuted” no one will lift a finger.

cutthecord/July 31, 2019

mike k/July 31, 2019

She is way more intelligent than any of those clowns on the stage with her. And not only that, she is speaking the unpopular truth – which none of the rest of them dare utter, even if they have a clue what the truth is – which most of them prove not to.

Molloy/July 31, 2019

Deloras Abernathy/July 31, 2019

Been scanning the news reports this morning. It is a fascinating revelation into how slanted almost all ‘news’ is these days. For instance, the pro-fake-socialist sites all claim that Sanders and Warren clobbered the opposition. On the other hand, the pro-1% sites all claim that the pro-wall street, pro-war zealots and fanatics won the debate (note, they are only centrist or moderate by their own strange self-definition. moderate compared to Attila the Hun is the way I usually hear that). I don’t think I’ve seen what I would consider an honest news report all morning. -Google is getting devious. They showed me an obvious picture of a motorcycle and forced me to call it a bicycle in order to proceed.

Michel Bélisle/July 31, 2019

I intend to stop posting comments because I am repeating myself in vain.

Even reading this from a recent article won’t convince most people and they will still vote for mainstream establishment political parties:

“The acknowledgement of a controlled demolition means our government lied to us on that day. It also means that the elite and their use of mainstream media to brand those who question 9/11 as ‘conspiracy theorists’ would finally become exposed, and that the ones who claim to be going after “terrorists” and condemning these attacks are possibly the same ones who are conducting these attacks. Think about that for a minute!”

If you add to that there were no wreckages of airplanes to be seen in the Pentagone and in a field in Pennsylvania, you know that the present society is hopeless.

It is the return of the days of Noah just before the Second Coming of Jesus. Noah himself was not able to stop people of his time to endorse lies. And we do not have men of the class of Noah in our days.

The only thing remaining, as Our Lady told us, is the Holy Rosary. And I pray the Rosary to hasten the return of Jesus because I have seen more than enough and I am fed up of all the bullshit.

HelenB/July 31, 2019

Yes. 9/11 was an inside job by members of the government and its parasite. Anyone who still thinks otherwise is either lying or delusional.

I suspect we are past saving though, even by Jesus. Would we recognise a Savior if he/she tapped us on the shoulder? Jesus may well be languishing in a sanitorium for the mentally ill somewhere, crying “but I came to save you all!” as he/she wriggles in a straitjacket.

Like you, I doubt there are any worthwhile candidates from mainstream political parties. The 1% wouldn’t allow it.

Michel Bélisle/August 1, 2019

Thank you Helen.

And think about what was written in the article I was making reference to:

“It also means that the elite and their use of mainstream media to brand those who question 9/11 as ‘conspiracy theorists’ would finally become exposed, and that the ones who claim to be going after “terrorists” and condemning these attacks are possibly the same ones who are conducting these attacks. Think about that for a minute!”

And think about another thing that resulted from 9-11, the surveillance state.

It means that we are now watched by those who are behind those attacks in 2001, probably especially subject to be watched are those who want social justice, those who want a society based on the needs of the citizens instead of society based on money.

Disgusting isn’t it?

That’s why I am totally fed up. I have really really seen enough.

Fortunately, according to many prophecies, the return of Jesus is very near and I pray the Rosary to hasten His Glorious return because I have really seen enough.

HelenB/August 1, 2019

eli folk/July 31, 2019

The Dem leaders are not only freaks, they are MORE dangerous than the Trumpsters, if less disgusting. The alternative to Trump in 2016 was Clinton who advocated a no-fly zone in Syria, considered too dangerous by Obama and the miliary. It would involve a military attack on Russian planes and troops, a nuclear power, and Clinton could impose it if prresident. a lying openly racist president is less dangerous.

Lloyd/July 31, 2019

Levi Tate/July 31, 2019

Marianne Williamson’s belief system (whatever that is) is “wacky” in the eyes of others until enough people believe and/or want it also. – This is a good time to roll out Mimetic Theory. – You will be soooo glad you learned about this today, it offers refreshing insight. – “The theory is based on the observable tendency of human beings to subconsciously imitate others and the extension of this mimesis to the realm of desire. The consequences are staggeringly profound.” – 1. MIMETIC DESIRE – Human beings naturally imitate the desires of other human beings. (Have you noticed that? Obvious, yes?) Human desire is, by and large, mediated desire. Girard calls this “mimetic desire” after the Greek word “mimesis.” Someone signals a desire for a particular thing, and now you discover that you want that thing. Most advertising works through this mechanism with demonstrated success. You and I are mimetic creatures. – 2. TRIANGULAR DESIRE – Desire as analyzed thus has three participants: a desirer, an object of desire and a model/mediator — *not* just two, a desirer and object. So why does it usually seem as if desire is just between you and the object? Because mimetic desire operates on a pre-rational level. Neurological studies have shown that this reflexive imitation is present even in newborns. The phenomenon is “preconscious,” grasped only after a later act of reflection if at all. We are otherwise blind to the influence of our models in supplying us with desires and thus blind to the “second-hand” character of our desires. Girard calls this blindness to the role of mediators in the origin of desire (i.e. the belief that “I” am the originator of “my” desire) the “romantic” delusion. Mimetic desire seems obvious when self-consciously reflected upon, but such reflection is not at all common and is certainly not automatic. – 3. ACQUISITIVE MIMESIS – Among the species of desire is acquisitive desire, which is similarly mimetic: an acquisitive gesture in one person begets a corresponding acquisitive desire in an another for the same object. (Defensive gestures similarly give rise to acquisitive desires in others, the well-known “forbidden fruit” phenomenon.) Acquisitive desires, subject to mimetic mirroring, will inevitably attach themselves to a single object within the same field of play and generate hostility and violence. In such cases, the model/mediator of desire first appears to his/her imitator as an obstacle/rival. (If the mimetic model doesn’t occupy the same “playing field” then there is no common object and thus no conflictual rivalry. Girard calls a model “distant” enough to avoid rivalry an external mediator, as opposed to the potentially rivalrous internal mediator.) The important thing to notice is that my mediator will first appear to the desirer as a rival, an obstacle, an opponent. Again, the mimetic phenomenon is preconscious, whereas the rival as rival stands all too noticeably in our way. Reaction against the rival’s potential (or actual) attempt to grab what I want *always* precedes the reflection that could uncover the truth source of my desire: that I only want it because she wants it. Put two kids together with a surplus of toys and their desire(s) will inevitably latch onto the same toy, beginning a tug-of-war and mutual cries that “I wanted it (or had it) first!” – You can read 4 thru 24 go here: –https://woodybelangia.com/what-is-mimetic-theory/

If you said a) then you are a mimic – if you answered correctly, b), you are still a mimic. –

Sorry about that. –

People are such sheep that they want to do what they believe the herd is doing, thus the alterior motive of polls is to lead people in the supposed direction of the herd. –

By the way, it will come as no surprise to you that the headline and article is bs. – “The Economist/YouGov survey of registered voters found that 48 percent of respondents said they would vote Democratic next year, 37 percent would vote Republican and 11 percent were not sure.” – What the article doesn’t tell you is that they asked, surveyed, more Democrats than Republicans. –

I’m not so much advocating for Marianne Williamson’s candidacy, and I know I don’t matter, but I observe that she is surfing the Zeitgeeist and historical trend-waves and she’s a righteous surfer. If you look at her, she knows the waters intimately and comfortably, and is on a third page, her own page not the Sanders/Warren page, nor the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama page that the other candidates seem to be wandering upon. Marianne Williamson got the most Google searches in 49 states, not Wyoming. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/455465-marianne-williamson-most-searched-for-candidate-during-democratic-debate

Colbert likes Sanders and Warren, who were righteous, and had each other’s backs, Sanders as left-elder-statesman and Warren as inadequately-chained-junkyard-dog-attacking-thieves. Stephen Colbert went after those long-shot candidates at the edges of the stage for inadvertently helping President Trump and Republicans make the case against the frontrunners who actually have a shot at winning the Democratic presidential nomination for 2020. “It’s hard to sum up what happened tonight,” the Late Show host began. “But most of it was a bunch of guys with no chance to win the Democratic nomination yelling Republican talking points at the people who can. It was like watching the seven dwarves offering Snow White a poison apple.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-colbert-hits-longshot-democrats-for-spewing-republican-talking-points-at-cnn-debate?ref=scroll

If I may add my assessment (yeah, I just did…) the main thing I looked for was comfort zone. Sanders was comfortable, fully assured as elder-statesman-lefty. Elizabeth Warren was as itching to eat-the-livers-of-global-capitalist-lackeys as anybody I have ever seen. She got a big smile on her face when they started talking, then relished the carnage of eating their flesh alive. (graphic?) Buttigieg did better than I expected. Others did not. They were either stressed out and showing it, on better drugs than you should take every day, or living in the Reagan era. Williamson clearly enjoyed what she was doing, and never paused for a moment to clearly elucidate her vision, nor did she blather and run over. She was the most-not-like-the-others, a BETTER disruptor than Trump, in my humble(ish) opinion. Could be FUN!

It is difficult within the walls of an insane asylum to argue with the inhabitants that their world is nuts. That is America (and not just America, but more or less all of the industrialized/capitalist world). Nearly everything thing we do is autodestructive: fly, drive cars, use plastic bags, depend on a vastly complex (and toxic) infrastructure system, the bill for which in the end is extinction. But living inside it it seems all necessary, normal and, well, just the way things are.

Automated Unit 3947/July 31, 2019

Should an idealistic and corrupted American enter politics as say a City Councillor, by the time they begin to build the political machine and alliances needed to rise to become mayor, they are by then completely corrupted. Always. It appears to be impossible to have any success in politics otherwise. ————– The wisest of the early Americans was a philosopher, writer, and sometimes comedian Benjamin Franklin. His last speech was given as a delegate to the convention which secretly wrote the Constitution (which was then rejected by the Americans). By the time he was at this point in his life, he didn’t appear to have a very high opinion of people ……… “In these Sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its Faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other. ” https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/pop_finalspeech.html

solly/July 31, 2019

Automated Unit 3947/July 31, 2019

We all learned from the recent Puerto Rico leaks and protests that the governor of Puerto Rico ran a ‘trolling’ operation to influence online opinion. It was obvious back in 2008 that Hillary and the Democrats were running the same. Probably others too, but if Sarah Palin ran one it was in different circles on the internet from me. We used to call the Democrat trolls Obamabots, long before Russian bots became famous. Thus, by this point in time, it seemed logical to assume that every American politician of governor rank or above, and likely many big-city mayors, run such trolling operations. Certainly every Presidential campaign. Remember, such things are rather cheap in campaigns where candidates raise $15 or $20 million in legit campaign contributions and where larger amounts of dark money flow unreported or monitored. Paying 10 people $12 an hour to sit and make tweets is nothing, nor is backing them up with a small handful of IT people creating fake social media identities and programming bots. So, while I have great sympathy for people like Caitlin who willing subject themselves not only to the official blather of the debate, but also to the competing social media troll campaigns, but personally I consider almost everything tweeted during such a debate event to be the result of such a troll campaign unless proven otherwise. And even when you encounter a real person, it is highly likely that they’ve been influenced by such a troll op or are a volunteer helping a campaign’s trolls.

Lloyd/July 31, 2019

Apparently this practice was fully in practice by Hillary in 2008. Back when she was running against Obama, I had a pro-Hillary troll confess that he was actually a middle aged contract “rent-a-troll” operating out of the PRC. The only thing that surprised me was he said he was in “Red” China. Of course the Clintons have a long history of collecting campaign contributions from such places, so was the troll deal another form of donation or did the DNC pay for it?

Tweets

“The reality is that most police stand by other police, even when they are undeniably in the wrong. That is not what good people do. That is not what people who have any intention whatsoever of ever doing anything about police brutality do.” https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1269450962952810496